(Fair Value and Equity Methods) Brooks Corp. is a medium-sized corporation specializing in quarrying stonefor building construction. The company has long dominated the market, at one time achieving a 70% market penetration. Duringprosperous years, the company’s profits, coupled with a conservative dividend policy, resulted in funds available for outside
investment. Over the years, Brooks has had a policy of investing idle cash in equity securities. In particular, Brooks has made periodicinvestments in the company’s principal supplier, Norton Industries. Although the firm currently owns 12% of the outstandingcommon stock of Norton Industries, Brooks does not have significant influence over the operations of Norton Industries.
Cheryl Thomas has recently joined Brooks as assistant controller, and her first assignment is to prepare the 2017 year-endadjusting entries for the accounts that are valued by the “fair value” rule for financial reporting purposes. Thomas has gatheredthe following information about Brooks’ pertinent accounts.
1. Brooks has equity securities related to Delaney Motors and Patrick Electric. During 2017, Brooks purchased 100,000 shares of
Delaney Motors for \(1,400,000; these shares currently have a fair value of \)1,600,000. Brooks’ investment in Patrick Electrichas not been profitable; the company acquired 50,000 shares of Patrick in April 2017 at \(20 per share, a purchase that currentlyhas a value of \)720,000.
2. Prior to 2017, Brooks invested \(22,500,000 in Norton Industries and has not changed its holdings this year. This investmentin Norton Industries was valued at \)21,500,000 on December 31, 2016. Brooks’ 12% ownership of Norton Industries has acurrent fair value of \(22,225,000 on December 2017.
Instructions
(a) Prepare the appropriate adjusting entries for Brooks as of December 31, 2017, to reflect the application of the “fairvalue” rule for the securities described above.
(b) For the securities presented above, describe how the results of the valuation adjustments made in (a) would be reflectedin the body of Brooks’ 2017 financial statements.
(c) Prepare the entries for the Norton investment, assuming that Brooks owns 25% of Norton’s shares. Norton reportedincome of \)500,000 in 2017 and paid cash dividends of $100,000.
